Avery Old Man with Enormous Wings a Tale for Children - Theme free essay sample

Very Old Man With Enormous Wings: A Tale for Children Theme A very old man with enormous wings focuses on how the characters, but also humans in general respond to people who are weak, have a weakness, dependent, and different from either our perception of how those in society should be or the perception of someone else. The theme of this story which is inferred by the text is the coincidence of compassion and cruelty, through the main characters actions and thoughts. In the short story there are times of cruelty, insensitiveness and minor compassion. But somehow Garcia Marquez has managed not only to put them all together in one story, but some all into one action. In the text it brings out 3 key points; held captive, they did not have the heart to club him to death, and dragged him out of the mud and locked him up with the hens in the wire chicken coop. We will write a custom essay sample on Avery Old Man with Enormous Wings: a Tale for Children Theme or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Insensitiveness is one of the first elements shown in this story, through when the town had known that an angel was â€Å"held captive† in Pelayo’s and Elisenda house. Although this strange â€Å"creature† was on their property, to hold someone captive whether believing their an angel or not is wrong. Which shows that they were insensitive to his condition of a battered angel but as a elderly man as well. But the fact that in the begging of his finding of him, he kept him captive in his house which shows a bit of compassion and consideration of his state at the same time. This act of insensitiveness also shows an ulterior motive of Pelayo and Elisenda, which in turn turned out to be as using him as their own personal profit. The element of compassion is introduced in the sentence where the judgment of the neighbor woman was given but contrary to her advice â€Å"they did not have the hearty to club him to death. † One of the definitions of compassion is the strong desire to alleviate the suffering of another, to me when I hear the word compassion I think of heartfelt desires, so seeing as how they didn’t have the heart to beat him to death shows some form of emotion in them. This bit of compassion is not only ironic but genuine out of respect. It is ironic because of the fact that they were willing to hold him captive, keep him in a chicken coop, and charge people to see him but not willing to kill him. Because as we see through the symbolized motif of the crabs, that they have the ability and motivation to kill those who invade their home/space. Which much like the crabs, the angel did just that; he came into their home and instead of killing him, they didn’t. Now whether there compassion in this instance is stemmed from respect of him being and angel or because he was a old frail man, it was still out of respect. The next element shown is cruelty, through the part where Pelayo â€Å"before going to bed he dragged him out of the mud and locked him up with hens in the wire chicken coop. † This shows cruelty because regardless of how they viewed him; supernatural or not, to treat him, a being nonetheless, like that is cruel, especially in the rain. This act really shows the theme of how cruelty and compassion not only coincidence but can overpower each other, moments after the compassion was shown of not clubbing him to death he was cruelly treated like an animal. Another aspect of the theme could be seen through the literal coexistence of compassion and cruelty. Pelayo, Elisenda and the whole village show the side of cruelty and insensitiveness, whereas the angel shows the compassion in the story. He is taken in reluctantly, and then used for profit, and the personal benefit of the villagers in granting miracles, but then thrown away when a new and better â€Å"attraction/circus act was introduced. All the while the angel shows intense patience with the villagers and Pelayo and Elisenda. Its no secret that he is a supernatural being and so he had all the means and power to retaliate on them but chose not to. Also his refusal to leave could be seen as compassion to help the poor couple, so allowing himself to be used to help out two strangers could have been the most compassion shown throughout the whole story. Pelayo might have showed the theme most well in the story. He is kinder to the angel than any of the other villagers, and even though he doesn’t decide to beat the old man to death he holds him captive in a chicken coop and charges to see him. But his decision to provide â€Å"shelter† for him and take on the responsibility of him with a sick child shows that he has a compassionate heart although he doesn’t use it very often. The coincidence of cruelty and compassion can exist together literally side by side shown through human feelings, or figuratively through actions of those either through what they’ve been told or what they’ve seen or experienced themselves.